Chapter 2041

"Yes, I have fishing rods. Third Senior Brother, do you want to fish?" Zhu Yanyi casually pulled out five fishing rods and handed one to each person. "How about we fish now? We can eat what we catch for lunch."

"That sounds good," Yan Aohan smiled lightly. "Let’s go. Let’s see who is the best at fishing."

The five of them eagerly took their spots and began fishing.

Zhu Yanyi was just there for the fun of it. She didn’t even look at her own hook. Instead, she placed a small table between herself and Yan Aohan, setting out tea and snacks. The other three looked at her with playful envy, making her feel a bit shy. She quickly shared some snacks with them.

Fishing was just a pastime for them. During the long sea journey, having nothing to do would be boring. For them, eating wasn’t the main point; they were enjoying the atmosphere.

Zhu Yanyi took a sip of five-flavor tea and lay back on her lounge chair. She didn’t care if she caught anything. She looked extremely relaxed.

"I think Fifteen knows how to enjoy life better than any of us," Ouyang Tianyun said with a smile, watching her.

Yi Yunfei nodded. "I agree. Fifteen is definitely more relaxed than we are."

Zhu Yanyi smiled. "It’s not really about enjoying life. I cultivate the mind, so I need to stay relaxed. For example, if I feel down, I eat sweets. Sweets can make worries go away. It really works. You can try it if you don’t believe me."

She said this very seriously.

Hearing this, Ouyang Tianyun said, "I agree too. Sweets can change your mood and make you happy. I think it’s because of the blessings in the food. Every good chef hopes that people tasting their food can feel their blessings."

"That’s the heart of a culinary cultivator," Zhu Yanyi said with a grin.

Ouyang Tianyun laughed. "More or less. Since I am a culinary cultivator, I naturally think this way. Every time I make something delicious, I hope the eater can feel my feelings while cooking. Similarly, when I eat, I sincerely try to feel the feelings of the person who made it."

Most culinary cultivators gain insights from food. This is their characteristic. Of course, Ouyang Tianyun was a bit different. He could occasionally have sudden realizations, but most of the time, he found inspiration in food.

"Third Senior Brother, how did you choose to become a culinary cultivator?" Zhu Yanyi was curious and asked.

Ouyang Tianyun sighed. "I went down the wrong path by mistake."

Everyone, including Zhu Yanyi, was stunned. What did she mean by "wrong path"?

Seeing their confusion, Ouyang Tianyun explained, "When I was young, I didn’t have enough to eat. Before I started cultivating, life was really hard. Although my family was originally well-off, a disaster destroyed everything. When I woke up, my home was ashes. My parents were dead, and my sister was missing. I had to beg for food.

Before I met my godfather, I wanted to eat anything because I was always hungry. I thought, 'When I grow up, I will be a chef. I can make whatever I want to eat.' Later, I met my godfather. He adopted me and asked what path I wanted to take. I blurted out 'chef,' and so I became a culinary cultivator."

Others stumbled into their paths, but Ouyang Tianyun had basically tricked himself.

Zhu Yanyi looked at her speechlessly. "But you seem to be doing well."

Ouyang Tianyun smiled. "Actually, I found that being a chef is not bad. Every time I see people eating my food with happy expressions, I feel very happy. Maybe this happiness has been supporting me all along. Plus, my tongue is quite sensitive to food, so I just kept going."

The others finally understood. Sikong Xuran said, "Although you went down the wrong path, you accidentally found the path that belongs to you."

"Yes, so later I was quite proud of myself. It’s rare to choose the right path by accident," Ouyang Tianyun said with a smile.

Zhu Yanyi agreed. She had to admit that Ouyang Tianyun was really lucky.

"I caught a fish!" Yi Yunfei, who had been silent, pulled up a saury. It wasn’t big, but it was a good start.

"Let’s work hard to catch more fish. Then Third Senior Brother can show us her skills," Zhu Yanyi said happily.

Inside the magical artifact, they didn’t need to worry about anything.

"There’s some noise ahead," Sikong Xuran said, tilting his head to listen.

Zhu Yanyi heard it too. "It sounds like a patrol fleet," she said.

Yan Aohan smiled and told everyone to put away their fishing rods. Then, the whole boat seemed to be covered by a glass-like dome. They were invisible from the outside, but they could see everything outside clearly. The boat then sank into the sea and continued moving forward.

Although they couldn’t fish anymore, they could see fish swimming outside. Bored, Zhu Yanyi reached out and grabbed a few fish inside. This amused Sikong Xuran and the others, so they started doing the same.

They didn’t catch many, mostly for fun. All the caught fish were given to Ouyang Tianyun to prepare.

While Ouyang Tianyun was cooking, Zhu Yanyi looked up and saw the shadows of several ships passing above.

"Aohan, these ships feel strange. They don’t look like patrol vessels," Zhu Yanyi said.

"They are fishing boats," Yan Aohan said after a glance. "Most of them are deep-sea fishing boats. They take a month to make a round trip."

"Fishermen have it hard," Zhu Yanyi said. She knew that fishing technology was much better now than in ancient times, but there was also more waste of resources.

She remembered that twenty years in her previous life, there were no fish in the near seas. People had to go to the outer oceans to fish. Now, deep-sea fishing was still rare, and most fishing happened in the near seas.

"So we are still in the near sea area," Zhu Yanyi said.

Yan Aohan nodded slightly. "Yes. But in half an hour, we will leave the near sea area. You can just play on the boat. It will take two more days to reach Japan."

"That’s not very fast," Zhu Yanyi looked at the boat. "Is the speed of the magical artifact so slow?"